


Oh Joy

by spookyhead



Category: LISA (Video Games)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2019-09-12 16:15:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16876083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookyhead/pseuds/spookyhead
Summary: He knew that the day would come where he would be forced to leave what he knew as safety, where he would be forced to become a part of this strange and dangerous world that had risen out of the ruins of the Flash. It would've been foolish to delude himself otherwise.But this, this wasn't what he had in mind.





	1. Crow

**Author's Note:**

> First time posting something here, let's see how this goes.  
> This fic will be showing events of Lisa the Painful and Joyful from the eyes of a member of Buzzo's gang, as well detailing his own story. Hope you enjoy!

Jason always hated the heat. 

He hated it now especially that it was almost always present, aside from the few times that the sun went down and allowed the land to cool off. Not to mention the constant humidity, which was heavy enough to make it uncomfortable but never enough to bring any rain. He let go of his shovel with one blistered hand and wiped the sweat from his brow. Briefly cursing himself for not wearing any covering to protect his back from the incessant sun, he continued digging into the ground having already partly created a narrow ditch a few feet long.

Beside the pile of dirt that was slowly accumulating nearby was a large bundle, its contents completely obscured by a yellowed old cloth that began to show stains of red spreading across its surface. Jason paid it and the oppressive heat no mind, trying to focus solely on the task in front of him, however the increasing pain in his hands and arms was harder to ignore. Jason was by no means feeble, but the Olathian soil was rocky and unyielding, and the repetitive action of trying to break it up was starting to take its toll. Not to mention the tightening sensation in his chest was making it more difficult to breathe, he was starting to regret smoking so much these past few days.

He briefly contemplated taking a break, but he quickly dismissed the thought. He wanted to finish this quickly, get back home as soon as he could and back to safety. Out here it was too open, nothing but wasteland with no trees and structures to take cover behind, and Jason felt vulnerable. The bundle lying nearby was proof of how dangerous it could be out here, and he had no intention of being attacked by one of the many gangs who roamed the area, or by something worse. 

Suddenly a sound brought Jason out of his thoughts. He stopped digging, wondering if it was just his imagination, but the sound persisted, a quiet crunching noise that Jason realized was the sound of footsteps somewhere behind him. He spun around, shovel raised as some form of protection, and saw that a fair distance away someone was walking towards him.

He was taller than Jason, though most people were, with a lanky figure that cast a long shadow on the ground in front of him. As he got closer, Jason could see despite his height the boy was fairly young, couldn’t be any older than seventeen, with rust-colored hair and a sunburned face covered in more freckles than he could count. The boy stopped for a moment, squinting in the bright sunlight.

“Hey, is someone there?”

_What?_ Jason was practically right in front of him, how did he not notice him? Not hearing an answer to his question, the boy approached the edge of the shallow pit Jason had dug and almost walked right into it, catching himself right as his foot touched where the ground sloped downward. He was close enough now that Jason could see his eyes in more detail, and he noticed something strange about them; they seemed unfocused, with the blue color of his eyes somewhat cloudy in the center. Could it be he was blind?

Jason remained silent and motionless, hands still tightly gripping the wooden handle of the shovel. The boy was unarmed, but the concept that he was simply wandering the wasteland completely defenseless was hard to believe. He looked young enough to have been one of the countless children who had to live in the world after all the women disappeared and everything went to hell. Many of these children were abandoned by those who deemed them too much trouble to take care of, so Jason had been told, and most of them weren’t able to survive on their own. 

With this in mind, the fact that this boy was standing in front of Jason intact with little more than a few scars on his face meant that he was either very lucky, or that he was much more formidable than he appeared.  
The boy moved around the edge of the pit closer to where Jason was, but stopped as his foot hit the heavy bundle on the ground. He frowned, looking down.  
“What the…” he muttered, leaning forward and reaching towards it. Jason tensed.

“Don’t touch that.” He snapped, and his voice was hoarse from lack of use and not nearly as loud or intimidating as he would’ve liked, but it didn’t seem to matter. The boy practically jumped a few feet in the air at the sudden noise and stumbled back, almost tripping over himself in the process. He looked so shaken that Jason almost felt bad about startling him, but the boy recovered both his composure and his balance surprisingly quickly, a sheepish grin spreading across his face revealing yellowed and crooked teeth.

“Whoops, uh, sorry about that, dude,” He backed away slightly, hands raised in a sign of surrender. “Didn’t mean to mess with your stuff. I was just trying to figure out what was going on over here, you know? I thought I heard someone before, but when I came over you were so damn quiet I thought I was just hearing things!” He chuckled, shaking his head. “Glad to know I haven’t completely lost it yet.”

“Hm.” Jason grunted in response, relaxing his grip on the shovel slightly. The boy seemed friendly enough, he thought, although if he had ill intentions underneath that smile, would Jason be able to tell? He stopped himself before he could think on it further. _You’re being paranoid_ , he told himself. _He’s just some random kid, not a threat at all, and even if he is you can handle it, so quit acting like everyone’s out to get you._ He turned back towards the pit and resumed digging, although he kept the boy within his peripheral vision. Just in case.

The boy sat down on the ground nearby, head tilted slightly with a focused expression on his face as if he was listening for something. For a moment there was silence, just the scraping of Jason’s shovel against the dirt. The boy sighed loudly, using the red piece of cloth around his neck to wipe some of the sweat off his forehead. 

“It’s really damn hot out here, huh?” Jason simply nodded, trying to concentrate on what he was doing. Undeterred by Jason’s unresponsiveness, the boy continued to talk. First about the weather, then about how he hated being outside, but it was the only place he could find something to do, and that was when Jason started to tune him out. He wasn’t really talking to Jason anyway, just rambling on to himself about nothing really important. Maybe it had been a while since he had someone to talk to, Jason knew what that was like. After a few more minutes of chatter the boy looked over in Jason’s direction, now speaking directly to him.

“So, what are you doing out here anyway?”

“…”

“It’s kind of hard to tell since, well, I can’t see shit,” He gestured to his eyes. “But from the sounds of it, that’s a pretty deep hole you’re digging there. It’s probably tough trying to work in all this heat, isn’t it?”

“I guess.”

“I’d help, but I don’t really know I’d be any good at that sort of thing. You don’t even have an extra shovel, do you?”

“No.” His shovel suddenly hit something hard on the ground, a metallic _clang_ ringing through the air. Jason frowned, continuing to hit it in hopes of breaking it so he could resume digging. It didn’t budge.

“You trying to bury something?”

“Yep.” After that, there was silence for a while. Jason glanced over at the boy, who was now staring at the ground with eyebrows slightly furrowed, looking lost in thought.

“Wait a minute,” His eyes widened with sudden realization and he pointed to the stained bundle next to him, his voice becoming more high-pitched. “Is that a _body?!_ ” Jason paused for a split second, trying to suppress his irritation, then resumed trying to break up the rock with slightly more force. It still wasn’t breaking. He was not in the mood for this.

“…yeah.”

_Holy shit_ ,” The boy whispered, sounding almost awestruck. “Who is it? Did you kill hi-“

“NO.” Jason stabbed the rusted blade of his shovel down, splitting the obstacle in two with a loud crack. Feeling the sudden anger quickly drain out of him, he looked back at the boy who had now scrambled to his feet at the unexpected outburst, eyes wide and apprehensive. Shit. He took a deep breath, trying to regain his composure. “No.” Jason repeated, this time his voice softer and more controlled. “I…I didn’t kill him. I just…found him. That’s all.” He sighed, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to, uh, freak out like that. Been a long day.” The boy’s tense expression relaxed slightly into something more sympathetic, and he nodded in understanding.

“Uh, don’t worry about it, dude, didn’t mean to pry,” He gave Jason a lopsided smile, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Just wanted to make sure you weren’t one of those crazy guys who has an _unfortunate tendency_ to try to kill everyone they meet, there’s a lot of those around these days,” Seeming to have regained his composure, he raised an eyebrow, lowering his voice to a joking whisper. “And no offense, dude, but you kiiiinda seem like the type.”

“Well damn, you caught me,” Jason drawled, feeling the corners of his mouth turn up despite himself. “Better run now, kid, before it’s too late.” The boy laughed, a clear sound that didn’t grate on Jason’s nerves as much as he expected, and sauntered over to the other side of the pit where Jason was standing.  


“Aw come on, you’re gonna try to kill me without even introducing yourself? Rude.” Grinning widely, he stuck out his hand towards Jason. “The name’s Felix. What’s yours?”

“It’s Jason. Nice to meet you.” He replied, taking his hand and shaking it, and Felix suddenly wrinkled his nose in disgust.  


“Ew. Your palm’s sweaty.” Jason rolled his eyes and pulled his hand away, turning back towards the pit as Felix pointedly wiped his hand on the front of his pantleg. Deciding that the hole he dug was finally big enough, Jason went over to the bundle and after a moment of hesitation grabbed at one of the ends of the cloth, feeling his hands close around the body’s ankles. He shuddered, quickly pulling the dead weight into the pit even though his muscles ached in protest, and the body landed at the bottom with a dull _thud_. Jason’s stomach turned at the sound. Felix briefly glanced down in the direction of the noise, but strangely enough didn’t comment on it. His mind seemed elsewhere.

“Hm…” He sat back down on the ground, legs crossed with a thoughtful expression on his face as Jason began to move the dirt from the large pile next to him back into the ditch. “Jason’s kind of a _boring name_ , isn’t it?”

“Excuse me?”

Felix shrugged, either not noticing the insulted tone in Jason’s voice or not caring. “I dunno, it just doesn’t feel like it suits you” His face brightened. “Hey, I know! I’ll give you a nickname!”

“You don’t…have to do th- “

Felix shushed him before Jason protest any further. “Shut up, I’m thinking…” He squeezed his eyes shut in concentration, hands raised almost as if trying to summon an idea through magic. Jason wasn’t quite sure if he should be irritated or amused. “What about Shovel? You know, since you were digging and stuff?”

“No.”

“Rocky?”

“No. You suck at this.”

“Hey _Rocky_ , be nice, I’m trying my best here,” Felix said indignantly. An evil grin slowly formed on his face. “How about…Sweaty Hands?”

“...”  


“Okay, okay, relax, I’m joking!” The smile on his face replaced by a more serious expression, he leaned forward, resting his chin on the palm of his hand. “You’d probably want something simple right? How does Crow sound?”

Jason thought for a moment. It was simple, and while he felt no particular fondness for the bird itself, they were one of the few animals that remained and thrived in Olathe after the Flash. The nickname would certainly have a positive meaning to it. “Fine, I guess.” Then a question surfaced in his mind. “Where’d you get that idea from anyway?”

“Your voice.” Felix replied matter-of-factly. “It’s kind of raspy-sounding, like a crow’s caw, but not as loud.” _That’s what being a chain-smoker for ten years does to you _, kid. Jason thought wryly, but he didn’t say that aloud. There are numerous suitable topics for conversation with someone you just met, and usually the addiction that is probably killing you slowly on the inside isn’t one of them. Instead, he nodded.__

“Makes sense to me,” Thinking it over, the name did sort of have a nice ring to it. “At least it’s better than Shovel.” He added. Felix shrugged, slowly standing up and stretching his thin arms over his head with a yawn.

“Eh, I don’t know, that one was growing on me.” He turned to Jason, readjusting the leather strap across his chest that was connected to a worn-looking shoulder pad. “Alright Crow, listen, I’d love to hang out a little longer, but I gotta go. Have some guys I need to meet up with soon and I think I’m already pretty late, they’ll probably be pissed if I don’t show.”

“Friends of yours?” Jason asked, suddenly curious. The boy grimaced.

“Kinda. Can’t exactly say we’re pals, but at least we help each other out from time to time.” His scowl deepened, eyes darkening. “At least, some of us do…” He muttered, and while Jason was tempted to ask about it further, something about the look on Felix’s face made him think twice. It probably would be best to leave it alone, Jason thought to himself, maybe he’ll find out next time they talked. Although, who’s to say when that would happen?

Before Jason could ask about it, Felix’s face suddenly brightened, all traces of his previous irritation gone. “Anyways, enough about that. See you later Crow!” Jason blinked, slightly thrown off by his abrupt change in mood, before nodding.

“Alright, take care.” He said, and the boy gave him a thumbs-up before turning around and walking briskly away. He must be familiar with the area, Jason realized as he watched him leave. The ground in this area was almost completely flat with little obstacles, which probably helped Felix somewhat, but the confidence with which he walked with only a few instances of hesitation probably meant that he had been here many times before.

Jason realized the boy probably knew the area better than he did. He himself had rarely ventured more than a few feet outside the home he found after the Flash happened. It first was a shelter from the following chaos of the incident; after all the vegetation died and the dust storms began it was no longer safe for people to remain in their homes, and most of the buildings in Olathe were no longer standing. However, even after things had calmed down and people adjusted to their new life in the wasteland, Jason couldn’t bring himself to join them. He never was quite sure why.

Suddenly he became aware of his hands trembling slightly around the shovel and grimaced. He needed a cigarette. However, that would have to wait. The thing lying at the bottom the ditch in front of him was not yet buried.

The task of covering the bundle with dirt was much easier than digging the pit, and Jason had already partly completed the job before he got distracted. A few minutes later, or at least what felt like a few minutes, the deed was done. Jason raised his head and scanned the horizon, searching, but Felix was nowhere to be found. Feeling the dull ache settle in his muscles, he turned away from the unmarked grave and sighed.

It was time to go home.


	2. The Cave

As it turned out, Jason encountered Felix again much sooner than he expected. 

Jason had returned back home at this point, and was lying down on the old, worn-looking blanket he had laid out on the solid, rocky ground. Sleeping on the floor of a cave wasn’t as unpleasant as it sounded, but then again, he supposed he had grown used to it by now. At least it was only mildly warm, in comparison to the oppressive heat of the outside. He shifted himself into a more comfortable position on his side and shut his eyes, trying to block out the irritating beams of sunlight shining through the cracks in the makeshift wooden door that covered the entrance of the cavern. 

Sleep often came quickly for Jason, but he never fully lost himself. He mainly moved in and out of consciousness for hours, never quite feeling completely rested afterwards. There was a time when he tried to use alcohol to drink himself into a deeper slumber, but the splitting headaches and nausea that afflicted him when he woke up quickly prevented that from becoming a frequent habit. 

Jason felt himself drift off, and moments later he was out. There was a period of quiet, where everything seemed to simply disappear, and then he was back. How much time had passed? Jason wasn’t sure. The one clock that he managed to grab from his old home before they left lay among many other pieces of scavenged junk in the cardboard boxes piled near the wall of the cave, and it had stopped working a long time ago. And of course, the fact that the normal day-night cycle was nonexistent didn’t help matters either. He wasn’t even sure how old he was now. 

Jason slowly pushed himself upright, wincing as his still sore muscles protested at the movement. He became aware of how dry his throat was, and looked around for something he could drink. Standing up, he walked over to one of the boxes closest to him that he knew contained most of his supplies. Supplies that were running low, particularly in terms of food, but he was able to find a beer bottle that had been filled with water that was more or less safe to drink. 

He gulped down the lukewarm water, finishing it in moments. There was no point in throwing the bottle away, it could be useful later. He moved to place it back in the box when suddenly there was a loud _thud_ outside, then silence. Jason froze at the noise. _What on earth was that?_ Slowly rising from his crouched position, he turned the bottle in his hand so that he gripped its neck, ready to smash the end against the rocks to create a makeshift weapon. Maybe it would be useful sooner than he thought.

He crept forward towards the door, peering through one of the many gaps in the wooden planks it was made out of. From what he could see there was no one close by, but he could definitely hear someone. Whoever it was it sounded like he was injured, all Jason was hearing was a string of curse words and exclamations of pain in a voice that was…strangely familiar? 

Jason opened the door slowly and peered out into the rocky terrain in front of him. Turning to look in the direction of the voice, he saw some distance away was a boy sitting on the ground holding his ankle with gritted teeth and a pained expression on his freckled face, a face that Jason immediately recognized with a jolt.

“Felix?” He called out, letting go of the bottle in his hand where it fell to the ground as he started quickly walking towards him. The boy looked up, brows slightly furrowed as he processed what he was hearing, before his eyes widened in recognition.

“Holy shit, Crow, is that you? What are you doing here?” He grinned, but his smile looked more forced than usual, there was a tightness in his face that indicated he was still in pain. As Jason got closer he could see the boy’s clothes were streaked with dirt and torn in a few places, exposing scraped up skin on his legs and arms that was slowly oozing blood. 

“I live here.” He answered, and Felix looked confused at the statement but Jason didn’t elaborate, more focused on addressing Felix’s injuries than explaining himself further. “What on earth happened to you?"

“I could’ve sworn I was further away from the edge of the path I was on, but of course, turns out I wasn’t. Next thing I knew the ground went out from under my feet and, well, the rest is history I guess,” He shook his head, crossing his arms. “It’s my own damn fault, I’ve been up there tons of times but I guess I just got careless this time around.”

Jason looked past Felix towards where the ground sharply sloped upward into a rocky ledge about fifteen feet above them. That must be where he fell from, Jason realized, and he grimaced. The slope was extremely steep and made of all sharp edges, and by the looks of Felix’s damaged arms and legs the boy felt that all in its entirety.

Felix let out a huff, glaring down at the leg that he was still holding in his hands. “My ankle hurts like hell, though.” His frown deepened. “It isn’t broken, is it? That would _really_ suck.”

Jason briefly shifted his attention from Felix to their surroundings. There was no one else around from what he could see that could pose as a threat, but still, Jason felt he would be able to relax more if they moved back to his place to take a closer look at Felix’s ankle. Plus, he might have something he could use to treat it alongside his other injuries, all Jason could really do out here was attempt to figure out if it was broken or not.

“I’ll take a look at it, but first I think we should get out of the open first. I live close by, and I should have something there that can help you.” _I hope._ Felix contemplated this for a moment before nodding.

“Alright, lead the way, Crow.”

It was fairly difficult trying to help Felix stand up, much less guide him over to Jason’s home without making him walk on his injured leg, however with some effort and a few more curse words on Felix’s part, Jason managed to get him through the doorway and into the cavern. The boy let out a low whistle.

“Nice place you have here, Crow.” 

“…thanks?” Jason didn’t quite understand the compliment, his “house” was merely a small, poorly lit cavern with a bunch of scavenged supplies and other items lining the walls, there was nothing really- _wait a minute._ He glanced at Felix, who looked like he was trying not to laugh. Right. He’s blind. “Very funny.” Jason muttered, and Felix snickered. At least he was in good enough spirits to be cracking jokes.

After having Felix sit down on the blanket laid out on the ground, Jason began to look through his inventory for any sort of materials he could make a splint with in case Felix’s leg _was_ broken. All he found was a few strips of cloth that could be used as bandages and a small, half-empty bottle of disinfectant. He frowned, picking them up. Guess these would have to do for now. Jason walked back over to Felix, who was running his hands along the ground and up the cave wall as far as he could reach without moving his legs. Probably getting a better idea of his surroundings, Jason realized.

“I’ve been in this area tons of times before, but I had no clue that anyone lived around here. How long have you been here, anyway?”

“Ever since the Flash, really.” Jason sat down in front of Felix, setting the medical supplies beside him. “Let me see your ankle.” Felix nodded, wincing slightly as he slid his boot off his foot. He rolled his pant leg up, revealing pale skin that was covered in a few gashes at the knee and shin that, while they were bleeding a fair amount, didn’t seem too deep. Jason turned his attention to the ankle. It was obviously swollen, but didn’t appear to be misshapen to the point where it was obvious it was fractured. He placed two fingers on the area of his ankle right above where the bones would be and lightly pressed down. “This doesn’t hurt, does it?” Felix shook his head.

“Nope. What’s that mean?”

“It means your ankle’s most likely just sprained.” The boy’s reddish eyebrows furrowed, his expression puzzled. Did he not know what he meant? It could be that he’s never heard the term used before. “Not broken.” Jason clarified, and Felix’s face brightened.

“Great, so does that mean I should be able to walk on it normally soon?” 

“Not exactly. It’ll still take some time to recover, and during that time you’ll want to stay off that leg so it can heal.” Felix frowned, obviously displeased by this development, but he didn’t voice any complaints. Wanting to make sure the other injuries were taken care of, Jason picked up one of the strips of cloth and the bottle of disinfectant, pouring some of the liquid onto the cloth. “This might sting a little.” 

“Wait, wh- _ow!_ ” Felix yelped and pulled his leg away violently as Jason placed the cloth on one of the scrapes, and the sudden movement of his injured ankle caused him to grit his teeth in pain. Jason sighed inwardly. He highly doubted the disinfectant hurt enough to warrant that reaction, and now Felix had ended up hurting himself even more. “Damn it, Crow, I can’t see what you’re doing, remember?! Give me a warning next time before you do shit like that.” 

“I did.” Jason replied flatly, and Felix rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry, Felix, but I don’t want to risk any of these getting infected,” Jason continued to move the disinfectant over the gashes, wiping away the blood and dirt from them as well. Felix shifted slightly in discomfort, but this time kept his leg still. “The sooner I do this the better, you’ll find it’ll stop hurting soon.” Discarding the used cloth, Jason reached for another and tied it around the injured area. “This is the the best I can do for now. Normally putting ice on it would help the pain and reduce the swelling of your ankle but, well, that obviously isn’t an option.” Felix nodded, the irritation fading from his face. 

“Alright, thanks Crow,” He stared down at his leg for a moment while Jason poured more disinfectant onto another cloth, and suddenly Felix gasped, smacking his palm into his forehead. “Holy shit I’m such an idiot, I almost forgot!” He shoved a hand into one of his pockets, pulling out a small, brown satchel.

“What is that?” Jason questioned, curious at the sudden outburst. Felix grinned slyly.

“Something much better than ice.” He untied a string that held the satchel closed, and from it took out a single object, a round, smooth pill whose unnatural shade of blue Jason immediately recognized much to his own dismay. It was Joy. 

Joy was a drug that came into existence prior to the Flash, and Jason knew it well. While he himself had never touched the stuff, he had served for a few years as a security guard in one of its many factories where it was developed as some sort of painkiller. However, it was merely tested and produced, never actually being distributed anywhere. Jason had always thought it was strange, however he never paid too much attention to it at the time, although now of course he wished he did. His job at that time was merely checking clearance, making sure that all the people that were in that factory were supposed to be there. Then the Flash happened, and like everything else in the world at that time, the Joy factories fell apart.

However, the drug that they had created remained.

Jason had heard what it does to people, and the fact that Felix had it now sent a wave of anxiety through his chest. He stared at the pill in Felix’s hand. How should he respond to this? He briefly contemplated simply grabbing the satchel from him and throwing it into a pit somewhere, but he doubted Felix would appreciate that even though it was for his own good. He would probably just find more, anyway, after the Flash the drug had spread all across Olathe and was hard to avoid. Maybe the boy just didn’t know how dangerous it was.

“Felix…I don’t think you should be taking those pills,” He tried to keep his tone even and as non-lecturing as he could, didn’t want Felix to get offended and tune him out. “I don’t know what you’ve heard about it, but from what I know Joy is something you’d want to stay away from.” Felix didn’t respond, his expression unreadable as he rolled the pill between his fingers. He popped it into his mouth and swallowed it dry, looking back up in Jason’s direction with a slight smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Listen Crow, hate to break it to you, but at this point it doesn’t matter whether I take it or not,” He shrugged. “I might as well just go with it, yeah? When things get bad, the Joy helps. Not a lot of things do that nowadays.” 

So then he already knew what would happen. Jason opened his mouth, wanting to say something else, but in all honesty he was unsure of what to say. Maybe it wasn’t too late for Felix, he thought, maybe if he stopped the Joy use now, nothing would happen, and he would be fine. But something in Felix’s clouded eyes stopped him. Jason realized that the boy was speaking the truth, but he was just so young, too young to have already resigned himself like that. How much Joy had he already taken, anyway? Jason wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

The conversation clearly over, Felix put away his satchel and leaned back against the cavern wall. It looked like the Joy was already taking effect. His half-lidded blue eyes appeared like the life had been sucked out of them, a stark contrast to their usual brightness, and his face had gone completely blank. Jason silently continued to treat the rest of Felix’s injuries on his other leg, but this time Felix didn’t respond at all to what he was doing, he just sat there, eyes staring forward but not seeing anything at all.

Jason moved to rewet the cloth but suddenly realized the bottle was now empty. He looked closer at the remaining scrapes on Felix’s arms. They didn’t look too serious, hopefully they would be fine for now. He quickly picked up the remaining bandages he had, turning away from Felix and walking to the other side of the cave to put them back where he found them. He had never seen someone under the influence of Joy before, and something about that dead expression disturbed him to the point that he couldn’t standing looking at it anymore. 

Instead, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his lighter along with pack of cigarettes that was almost empty. Jason wasn’t too bothered by this, however, he knew he had more stored somewhere and even when he ran out he could go out to look for more. For some reason those sorts of things were never in short supply in the wasteland, they weren’t too hard to find if you actually tried searching for them. Or so Jason’s been told, at least. He wouldn’t know.

He put the cigarette in his mouth and flicked the spark-wheel of the lighter with his thumb, bringing the small, orange flame to the tip and inhaling to light it. Watching the familiar sight of smoke rising into the air as he exhaled, he relaxed slightly. He looked back over his shoulder at Felix, who almost appeared to be asleep, but after looking closer Jason saw that his eyes were still slightly open. 

Then Felix began to hum.

The sound was extremely quiet, and at first Jason thought it might have been just in his head or something from outside, but after a few seconds he realized it was coming from Felix. The song the boy was humming sounded strangely familiar, but no matter how hard Jason tried to recall it he could not remember exactly what it was or where he had heard it. 

The soft humming combined with the dimly lit cave and the near-motionless body sitting across the cavern was more than a little disconcerting. Jason took another drag on his cigarette and tried to ignore it. Maybe he should go outside and get some air. Before he could act on that impulse, Felix suddenly spoke, his voice much quieter than usual.

“…hey Crow? You still there?”

“I’m here.” 

Felix turned his head in the direction of Jason’s voice, now having stopped humming. The look in his eyes was a bit clearer now, or maybe Jason was just imagining it.

“Thanks again for helping me earlier…I owe you one.” 

“Don’t mention it.” He replied, feeling a slight smile rise on his face despite his prior uneasiness. 

Felix absentmindedly ran his hands back and forth over the blanket he sat on, appearing to be more alert. “Crow, have you been living here by yourself this whole time? I don’t think I’ve ever really noticed anyone in this area before. Has it always been just you here?” 

Jason had to think for a moment, much to his own confusion. _Has_ it always been just him? No, that wouldn’t make sense, if he’s been by himself alone and hiding in this cavern the whole time then where did all the supplies in those boxes come from, did he get those by himse--no, no that couldn’t be right, the only time he went outside was only recently, when he was looking for…

“Crow? Hey, are you okay?” Felix, now having sat up straight and turned towards Jason, sounded worried, but Jason was too distracted in his own thoughts to process what he was hearing.

What was he looking for?

_Why couldn’t he remember?_

He took another drag on the cigarette with a shaky breath in an attempt to calm himself, trying to focus only on the feeling of the smoke filling his chest. It was fine, he told himself. He was fine. Just tired, he thought, pushing away that fact that he had just rested recently. He would remember what happened eventually, maybe, and even if he didn’t, that was alright.

It probably was nothing important, anyway.

“Sorry Felix, I must’ve zoned out there for a second,” He gave a short laugh that he realized sounded just a bit too forced. “And yeah, it’s been just me here, why do you ask?” Felix remained silent for a moment, staring in Jason’s direction with narrowed eyes before he relaxed, sitting back against the wall.

“I don’t know, I guess I was just curious,” He frowned, the concerned look returning to his face again. “But damn, Crow, you’ve been alone this whole time? That can’t be good for you, dude, I mean I’m no psychopath—wait, no no no, that’s not the word for it, what’s the word for the guy who’s like, a doctor for a person’s head?”

“Psychologist. You were close.”

“ _Riiight_ , psychologist, anyway, I’m not one of those, but I know enough about being lonely that I know it fucking sucks. Makes you crazy. You really should go outside, talk to people more.” Jason knew the boy meant well, but he would much prefer Felix to be more concerned about himself. He knew he would have to leave his home eventually to look for more supplies, but Jason had no intention of venturing out into the wasteland simply for the purpose of socializing. He was never any good at that sort of thing even before the Flash.

“I’m talking to you, aren’t I? Besides, I’m not lonely, neither am I crazy.” He replied, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice, and the boy raised an eyebrow, looking extremely doubtful. Jason rolled his eyes. _Smartass._ Then he had a thought. “But if I do what you suggest…will you stop taking those pills?” Felix gave a thoughtful hum, looking up towards the ceiling with a furrowed brow as if he was seriously contemplating the idea. Then he shot Jason a lopsided grin.

“Nah.” 

Well, that was worth a shot at least. 

“Anyways, I’ve been bothering you enough, I probably should get going.” Jason quickly raised his head from staring at the ground, realizing with a start that Felix was beginning to try to stand up. He tensed, knowing he wasn’t close enough to stop him or to grab him if he fell.

“Felix, stop, you shouldn’t—"He trailed off as Felix turned around to face him, standing on both legs with no pain on his face whatsoever. The boy tilted his head questioningly at Jason, who honestly didn’t know what to think of what just happened. “Uh…” Jason shook his head, bewildered. “…never mind. The door’s to your right, just follow the wall and you should find it.” Felix nodded.

“Gotcha, thanks Crow.” Jason watched as he made his way towards the door with one hand against the side of the cavern, keeping his eyes on the boy’s face searching for any signs of pain. He found none. He was certain that Felix had injured his ankle badly, so how on earth was he now walking completely normally? His mind went back to the blue pill in Felix’s hand. It must have been something to do with the Joy, what else could it have been?”

Felix pushed open the door, the light from outside illuminating the interior of the cavern and making Jason squint slightly, unused to the brightness. Looking back into the cave, Felix gave Jason a little wave and another grin before he turned back around and started to head outside.

“Be careful out there,” Jason called after him as the door closed, pausing for a brief moment before adding: “And stay away from any cliffs, alright?” He heard the sound of Felix laughing from behind the door, which was quickly replaced by the quiet noise of footsteps that slowly faded away, leaving Jason alone with the silence of the cavern. He looked down at the still lit cigarette in his hand before tossing it on the ground, watching as the tiny orange light at the tip slowly pulsed, rising and falling in intensity before it started to fade. 

Jason stared at it for a moment longer before crushing it with the heel of his boot, deciding it was time to sleep again. He didn’t really want to do anything else. Not feeling like moving over to the blanket, Jason laid down on the rocky ground from where he was sitting and closed his eyes, letting the darkness of the cavern overtake him as he fell asleep.

 

It was only a short time after the incident with his ankle that Felix once again showed up at Jason’s door, fortunately uninjured this time, waving enthusiastically with his usual grin on his face. Jason let him in, didn’t see any reason not to, but was puzzled as to why the boy had come back. When he was asked about it Felix merely shrugged and said didn’t want Jason to go crazy, to which Jason rolled his eyes, and also that he was bored. Jason merely sat and watched as the boy explored the cave, rummaging through the boxes of junk lying on the ground and asking him what different things were.

Felix was particularly fascinated by a rubix cube he had found in one of the boxes(Jason honestly had no idea where it came from) and plopped himself down on the ground to start fiddling with it. He obviously couldn’t tell if he was solving it or not, but Jason supposed it was something to keep his hands busy. The boy chattered away for a while, first talking about the rubix cube, then about things he himself had found while roaming the wasteland: in a hushed, excited tone he told Jason that a long time ago, he had managed to scavenge a fully functioning submachine gun on a corpse he found. Jason didn’t believe him in the slightest. Then Felix left, but he returned soon enough with of course more stories to tell.

When these visits started to become more of a regular occurrence, Jason came to the realization that he didn’t mind as much as he thought he would. While their conversations were primarily one-sided due to Felix’s talkative nature and Jason’s, well, not so talkative one, he found he genuinely enjoyed the boy’s company. Jason was also glad he was spending more time in a safer place compared to the outside; he couldn’t help but worry that the boy would eventually get himself hurt again wandering alone in the wasteland, and Felix’s blindness didn’t help matters either.

And so, when one day Felix walked into the cavern missing his left arm, Jason was understandably alarmed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He probably just fell off a cliff again, he'll be fine.  
> Things are going to start picking up next chapter, expect that sometime next week!


	3. The Encounter

“Crow, I said it’s _fine_ , quit freaking out about it!” Felix, who Jason had made sit down on the blanket again, turned the remaining stump of his arm away from Jason in a futile attempt to hide it. He scowled with a barely concealed annoyance that Jason didn’t quite understand. “Just leave it alone, alright?”

“ _Leave it alone?!_ ” Jason repeated incredulously, hardly believing what he just heard. Feeling a surge of both irritation and fear rise in him he grabbed the boy’s shoulder, turning Felix back to face him. “Felix, this isn’t just some sprained ankle we’re talking about here, what the hell happened?” Felix stared down at the ground with a scowl, avoiding even looking in the direction of Jason’s face.

“…it got cut off,” He mumbled, and at first Jason thought maybe he heard him wrong, but then Felix repeated himself with a stronger voice. “It got cut off. Okay? That’s what fucking happened. Now let go of my shoulder, it hurts enough already without you pulling on it.” Jason immediately felt a stab of regret at treating the boy so roughly, especially when he was injured like that, and pulled his hand back quickly.

“I’m sorry, Felix. I just…I just want to know what’s going on. You have me really worried right now, and the fact that you’re not saying anything about it isn’t helping.” Felix looked back up at him, the anger fading from his face, and Jason realized how exhausted the boy looked. “Who did this to you?” He asked softly, and Felix turned away from him again, reaching up to lightly trace the blood-soaked bandages wrapped around the remnants of his arm. There was a long pause before he finally spoke again.

“It was…someone I know. You don’t have to worry, though,” The fury returned to his eyes, and while this time Jason knew it wasn’t directed at him the knowledge gave him little comfort. “I’m not going to let him hurt me like that ever again.” He sighed heavily, looking back over in Jason’s direction. “Look, I…I’m sorry for worrying you, Crow. You can take a look at it if it’ll make you feel better.” Jason desperately wanted to ask who on earth Felix was talking about and find out more, but he knew that would be futile. He had learned quickly that Felix was even more stubborn than he was talkative, and when he wasn’t in the mood to discuss something that conversation was over.

Instead, Jason turned his attention to Felix’s arm, removing the blood-soaked bandages as gently as he could. Upon revealing the full extent of the injury he immediately recoiled, but it wasn’t the sight or smell of the blood that began dripping onto the dirt that made Jason’s stomach turn. The damaged area where the arm was separated above the elbow was surrounded by numerous deep lacerations, nothing but a mass of ruined flesh that made it seem like the arm was more torn off than simply cut. Clearly whoever did this made a deliberate effort to make the act slow and painful, but Jason just couldn’t fathom why. 

Realizing he was becoming distracted, Jason tried to focus on dealing with the injury in front of him, but in truth he didn’t know how much he would be able to do. Sprained ankles and scrapes he could handle, an amputated arm was another thing entirely. However, the bandages Jason removed from the arm likely meant that someone else had already treated it, he doubted it was Felix, and from the looks of it there was no sign of infection. Still, Jason was starting to regret using up that bottle of disinfectant, all he could really do now was replace the bandages and hope for the best.

“Seriously Crow, you really don’t need to do this.” Felix said, wincing slightly as Jason began to wrap the strips of cloth he had around the remaining part of the arm. “I’ve still got these, remember? I’ll be fine, trust me.” He patted his front pocket, and Jason remembered the satchel he had earlier. Would those pills be able to heal an injury like this? Felix gave a quiet chuckle, the corners of his mouth quirking up as if suddenly remembering a joke. “I got the Joy.” 

 

**

Some days later, Jason awoke from a restless sleep to the sound of loud knocking against the door indicating that Felix had returned. Wondering why the boy didn’t just let himself in at this point, he trudged over to the cavern entrance and pulled the door open

It took a few seconds for it to register in his sleep-hazed mind that the person standing in front of him was not Felix. He was shorter, almost Jason’s height, with tanned skin and dark, long hair that looked surprisingly neat for someone living in a wasteland. Clad in a red and white striped shirt with shoulder pads, the man’s muscular frame and the multiple scars crisscrossing his tanned arms and bearded face indicated that he was no stranger to conflict. Jason immediately tensed and took a cautious step back, but then he noticed the absence of any hostility from the stranger’s face, rather, he looked incredibly anxious about something.

“Are you Crow?” The man stared at Jason intently with widened eyes, and at first Jason was caught off guard by this stranger using the nickname Felix gave him. This confusion soon gave way to suspicion; how did he know about that?

“Who are you?” Jason kept his tone guarded, taking another step backwards into the cavern in case of any signs of aggression from the man, who now looked irritated at the lack of an answer to his question. 

“Look, I’m just here cause a friend of mine’s hurt, badly, and he told me to find someone who lives around here named Crow. If you’re not him, do you at least know where he is?” There was no question that the man was talking about Felix. Jason’s mind raced, thinking about what could have possibly happened to him now, but he was brought back to reality by the stranger clearing his throat, looking even more agitated than before. “ _Please._ It’s important.” 

“…yeah. I’m Crow,” Jason finally answered, voice rough from lack of use. “You’re talking about Felix, right? Where is he?” A slight smile of relief flashed across the man’s face before it was replaced with worry again.

“In that old warehouse just outside this area. You know where that is, right?” Jason shook his head and the man nodded. “That’s alright, I’ll take you to him. Just follow me.” Before Jason could respond, the stranger turned around and started briskly walking away, leaving him still standing in the doorway. Jason couldn’t help but hesitate to follow, something about this seemed off. This man did know Felix, that much was certain. The boy must have told him where Jason lived as well, the small entrance to the cavern was out of the way and was unlikely to be noticed by passerby unless they were specifically looking for it. Even so, from the sounds of it Felix didn’t exactly keep the best company. What if this man was the one who had hurt him earlier?

Jason hesitated for a moment longer before he stepped outside, shutting the door behind him. He could debate the trustworthiness of this stranger with himself all day and never be fully sure, but one thing he knew with certainty was that Felix needed his help. As he ran to catch up with the man he thought back to Felix’s missing arm. Felix had said he wasn’t going to let something like that happen again, and Jason sure as hell wasn’t going to either. 

After a few minutes they left the stony, rugged area that Jason lived in behind, and the terrain began to flatten and showed some signs of vegetation, if one could even call it that, simply a few patches of dead looking grass spotting the landscape. In the distance Jason could see a large, dilapidated structure covered in crude-looking graffiti, its few windows boarded up with wooden planks. That had to be the warehouse, he thought as they got closer. The man walked right up to the rusted-looking door and with a grunt of effort pushed it open, the hinges screeching with a harsh sound that made Jason cringe.

“He’s in here.” The man said, gesturing for him to go inside. It looked pitch black in there, and Jason’s instincts were screaming at him that something wasn’t right here and that he should turn back now while he still could. Pushing down these thoughts, Jason slowly walked forward and into the darkened building, the man following behind him.   
Before he could get an idea of his surroundings, Jason heard the door behind him close. He froze, the room now completely plunged into blackness. After a moment of processing what just happened Jason quickly spun around and went to open the door, but the handle didn’t budge. _Shit._ Jason felt a surge of irritation as he realized the man was gone. Of course, this was some sort of trap. But then, what did Felix have to do with it? Trying to suppress the anxiety that was quickly rising in his chest, Jason looked back into the dark. 

“…hello?” He meant to call out to try and get an answer, but his voice came out much weaker than he wanted, and the faint sound was quickly swallowed up by silence. Suddenly remembering the lighter in his possession, Jason reached into his pocket and pulled it out. 

Before he could open it, however, he felt a sudden blow to his gut, a powerful strike that practically knocked the wind out of him. Jason stumbled back into the door, gasping for breath and doubling over, the lighter falling out of his hands and clattering on the floor. Raising his head, he desperately searched for some sign of where his assailant was, but he still couldn’t see anything. He had to get out of here. Jason grabbed the door handle and started pulling on it with greater urgency, but the door still didn’t budge. 

He started to turn to try and locate some other method of escape, but before he could act he felt behind him a rough hand grab the back of his head, fingers tangling in his hair with an iron grip. The hand pulled backwards, throwing Jason off balance, before slamming the front of his face into the metal door with enough force that Jason felt the impact ring throughout his skull. He stood there dazed for a moment, briefly noticing the warm sensation of blood beginning to run from his nose before he felt his attacker forcefully yank his head back again. 

Through the haze of pain Jason realized he had to act now, and as he was pulled backwards he used the momentum to blindly elbow in that direction into what hopefully would be his attacker. He felt the bone connect with flesh and heard a low grunt in pain as the grip on his head loosened. _Good._ Now he knew where his attacker was. Trying to recall whatever self-defense he knew, Jason continued to turn with the motion of his elbow and out of the man’s grasp, pivoting his hips and using the added force to drive the heel of his palm upward where he felt it hit the person’s jaw.

The attacker reeled backwards, and Jason dove off to the side past him to avoid being grabbed again. He reached out to try to find a wall, find some way to regain his bearings, but that was near impossible in an environment that was so unfamiliar. Was this what it’s often like for Felix? With a start Jason remembered what that man had said earlier. While Felix obviously wasn’t here, it could very well be that he’s still in trouble, and Jason knew he had to stop wasting time here and go find him. Finally finding the wall, he knelt down and crawled forward along it as quietly as he could, feeling around the ground for something he could use to defend himself. That man said this was some sort of warehouse, didn’t he? There had to be something. And then, he would get rid of whoever was attacking him, and get the hell out of here. 

Jason’s hand brushed up against something smooth and cold and he immediately grabbed it, his fingers closing around something that felt like a rod of some sort, maybe a pipe? It didn’t matter, he thought as he lifted it, a reassuring weight in his hands. This should do the job. He cautiously stood up, trying to hear if the attacker was somewhere close by, but there was only silence. Maybe he was listening for Jason as well. 

To test this out, Jason took a few steps forward and leaned down, tapping the metal rod lightly against the ground where it made a soft _clang_. The noise was quiet, but it proved to be enough, and Jason began to hear footsteps coming closer towards the direction of the sound. Jason raised the rod.  
The footsteps became closer. It wasn’t quite time yet, just a little bit longer.

 

Even closer now. Not yet.

 

_Now._

Jason swung the rod downward towards what was likely the person’s legs as hard as he could, and felt an unexpected surge of satisfaction as he heard a shout of pain and a thud as his attacker’s body dropped the floor. The faint streams of light shining in between the cracks in the boards covering the windows helped his eyes adjust to the dark, and now he could see the outline of a man curled up on the ground in front of him. 

“Who are you?” Jason demanded, moving so he was now standing over his attacker. “Where’s Felix?” All he heard in response was a pained groan and a few curse words spat out at him. Jason frowned. He didn’t recognize the voice, it was much deeper than the one belonging to the man that had brought him here, so who was he? Before he could think on it longer the man suddenly moved, sitting up violently and reaching towards Jason, and instinctively Jason brought down the rod again. The man’s head fell back on the ground with a sharp crack, and this time he remained motionless. 

Jason stared down at the dark shape below him, feeling the adrenaline still thrumming through his veins. Was he still conscious? Jason couldn’t tell, but he couldn’t shake the thought of how badly he wanted to make sure that man _stayed_ down. Maybe he should do it just more time. Just to be safe. His mind still racing, hands trembling slightly, he slowly lifted the rod and slammed it down on his attacker’s head. Just once. Or, maybe it was more than once. Later, when he tried to remember what had happened, he couldn’t quite recall. What he could remember was what happened afterwards, when a new voice rang out from somewhere above him.

“Turn on the lights.” A moment later there was a soft _click_ and the room was illuminated by flickering florescent lights on the ceiling. The sudden brightness caused Jason to flinch, and he briefly wondered how the electricity in this building was still working, but his mind was quickly distracted by something else.   
He wasn’t alone. In fact, he was surrounded. 

Jason was able to count six men directly in front and on the side of him, with a few others standing on a balcony-type structure a few feet above him, many of which were carrying weapons. While varying in their dress, these men all had something in common-they were wearing masks, white, oval-shaped coverings crudely painted to look like eerie, smiling faces. 

The only exception to this was a taller man with a spiked helmet and shoulder pads standing towards the back of the room, his gaze fixed on Jason with his startlingly red lips spread wide in an unnerving grin. 

“Well damn, would you look at that,” He laughed quietly, starting to walk forward further into the light, and Jason recognized his voice as the one who had spoken earlier. The man’s movements were relaxed but Jason could easily see the power hidden behind them, his bare torso and arms muscular and strangely lacking any scars from what Jason could tell. “This whole time I thought that was you getting your ass kicked, but, well…” He stared down at the thing on the ground in front of Jason with an amused expression. “That’s obviously not the case.” Jason didn’t follow his gaze, keeping his eyes focused on the man with his piece of metal he could now see to be a crowbar raised in case he suddenly attacked. Ignoring Jason’s obvious defensiveness, the man turned away from him to look up towards the balcony. “Looks like you were right about this one after all, Felix.” 

_What?_ Jason sharply looked up towards where the man was looking and saw on the left side of the balcony, leaning over the railing nonchalantly, stood none other than the boy himself. His face was covered by a mask like the others, but there was no question it was him. Felix didn’t say anything, just nodded with an uncharacteristic silence, and the other man turned back to Jason with his expression turning more sheepish.

“Sorry about putting you through all of this, but while Felix already told me that you would be able to hold your own in a fight, I wasn’t sure if I could take his word for it. I wanted to see it for myself,” He lowered his voice, but could still be clearly heard in the silence of the warehouse. “You know, since he can’t.” Jason heard an audible _huff_ from Felix and the boy dramatically lifted his hand up with his middle finger raised, before one of the men next to him, clad in some sort of faded pink armor, quickly reached over and pushed his hand back down.

_What the hell was going on?_ Jason honestly had no idea. From the sounds of it these men weren’t trying to intimidate him into giving up his belongings like he heard of other gangs doing, and even if they were Jason had nothing to give, but they clearly wanted something from him. The way the man with the helmet made it sound, this was some sort of test, but the reason for it was unclear. Jason remained silent.

“Oh, right, I guess I should introduce myself, shouldn’t I?” The man smiled again-Jason briefly wondered if his face hurt from doing that so often-and gestured to himself. “My name’s Buzzo, I guess you could call me the leader of all of these-” He turned and gestured around the room, his voice now taking a more deadpan tone “- _wonderful_ people. Say hello, guys.” He was met with total silence from the group, but Jason noticed one of the men standing above him on the balcony, a short, stout man with a bright green mohawk, who gave a little wave. 

“What do you want?” Jason finally spoke up, listening to his own voice as he asked the question. Surprisingly, he sounded calm, almost uninterested. Good. He didn’t want to give away any sign of unease in front of these people, no matter how much he wanted to bolt for the door he knew was likely still locked. Buzzo hummed thoughtfully.

“What I want…” He mused “Well, nothing really. I’m just here to give you an offer, that’s all.” _An offer?_ Jason’s curiosity was piqued, but he still felt uneasy. There was something off about this man that he couldn’t quite pinpoint. All this time while talking to Jason, his almost cartoonish smile never reached his eyes, and its near constant presence on his face made him difficult to read. However, Jason couldn’t detect any ill-will directed towards him either, from Buzzo or his men; in fact, some of them seemed more curious than hostile, but of course it was difficult to tell with the masks. He would hear him out, Jason decided. Then again, he didn’t really have a choice, did he? 

“…I’m listening.” Buzzo nodded.

“Good. Well then, to keep it simple, I’m offering you a place as a member of this gang. Felix told me you’d be capable of pulling your own weight as one of us,” His eyes darted downwards to the thing on the ground before looking back to Jason “And at this point I’m inclined to agree. Even though following a complete stranger into a dark, abandoned warehouse was kind of a stupid move.” He added with a slight smirk, and Jason heard a quiet chuckle off to his right where a few of the men were standing. He immediately recognized one of them as the man who brought him here, now wearing one of the smiling masks like the others. Now it all made sense why all this was happening, this was Felix’s idea, those friends he mentioned earlier must have been this gang. But then, why did Felix want Jason to be a part of it as well?

“And if I say no to your offer?” Jason turned his gaze back to Buzzo and tried to keep his expression neutral despite his confusion. Face unreadable, Buzzo suddenly took a few more steps towards him, so he was only a short distance away. Jason quickly took a step back, shoulders tensing as he once again raised the crowbar. He hadn’t realized how giant this man was compared to him, he was more than a head taller and Jason had to tilt his head up to even look at his face. Now Jason could see his eyes were cold and grey like steel, likely matching the sword hidden in a sheath hanging at the man’s side. These eyes glanced down at the bloodied crowbar with cool indifference before suddenly brightening as Buzzo laughed, a harsh sound that startled Jason and almost made him drop his weapon.

“Why, then you can go on your way. I’ll have the doors opened for you and you can go back to whatever you were doing before, no hard feelings,” He shrugged nonchalantly. “I just think you’ll find it’s much easier to survive when you aren’t all on your own, allies can be valuable in a place like this. All I ask is for your willingness to help us with some things from time to time, that’s all. So, what do you say?”

Jason hesitated to give him an answer. There were too many unknowns involved here, Jason had practically no information about who exactly these people were, so how could he say yes or no? Felix was one of them, so at least he would have someone who could tell him more about all this if Jason agreed. Not to mention what Buzzo said was true, having some form of allies would provide some much-needed safety in the world after the Flash. However, there wasn’t any question that being involved with them would be dangerous as well; the fact that he was set up for someone to attack him as some sort of test for joining them was a clear indicator of that. Whatever this gang did, Jason realized that he may very well have to fight as a part of it. Could he do that? He stared down at the bleeding thing at his feet that he now saw was wearing a broken, smiling mask.

Yes, he could.

“Alright.” Jason looked back up at Buzzo, slowly lowering the crowbar. “I accept your offer.” Buzzo silently studies him for a moment longer before he nods.

“Perfect. Good to have you, Crow.” Jason at first was puzzled by the use of his nickname from Felix but didn’t bother correcting him with his real name. It didn’t really matter, and the name was starting to grow on him anyway. Instead, he asked a question that was at the forefront of his mind.

“So, what happens now?” Buzzo doesn’t respond right away, instead looking back to the balcony where he nods almost imperceptibly. Immediately the small green haired man who had waved at Jason earlier leaps over the railing, surprisingly agile, and makes a perfect landing on his feet. He walks over to where the two were standing, and Buzzo turns back to Jason with a grin.

“Now, we get you a mask.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late chapter! I'll be taking a quick break from updates to catch up on writing since holidays got pretty busy for me, if all goes well the next chapter should be up in a few weeks.


	4. Fresh Meat

“Holy shit Crow, I can’t believe you killed Reggie! I thought you were just gonna, like, knock him out or something.” Felix was practically bouncing in excitement next to Crow as they walked down the hallway leading away from the entrance of the warehouse. They were led by the green-haired man Felix introduced to him as Bleach, who was moving surprisingly fast for having such short legs. 

“I can hardly believe it either,” Crow muttered, looking around and trying to take in as many details of this place he could. The hallway was dimly lit, with tiled floors that were discolored with dirt and covered in various bits of garbage. As they walked they passed by a couple metal doors, some closed and some open to reveal smaller rooms, but Crow wasn’t able to get a better look inside them. Instead he glanced at Felix, the events that had unfolded mere minutes before were playing through his head. “Your leader didn’t seem too concerned that I…” The word doesn’t come out easily, and it takes a moment for him to get it out. “… _killed_ him, though. You don’t seem to be either.”

“Eh, I think Reggie was close to turning anyway. Plus, he was kind of a dick.” Felix spoke matter-of-factly and devoid of any sort of concern. “Besides, you beat him, so that means you’re stronger. That’s probably all that matters to Buzzo, he doesn’t really care about anything else.” _Turning?_ Crow opened his mouth to ask Felix what he meant, but suddenly Bleach looked back at the two of them and pointed to one of the doors. He stopped and gestured for Crow to go inside before reaching out and grabbing Felix to prevent him from walking past the room. 

The room was very small and dimly lit, almost reminding Crow of his home back in the cavern. It even had a few cardboard boxes stacked up in the corner where Bleach was crouched down and digging through them. Towards where the boxes were Crow saw a few cans of paint, and set on top of them were paintbrushes, pencils, and some other tools he did not recognize. A few blankets were laid out on top of each other in the corner indicating that this might be some sort of living area, but outside of that it looked more like a makeshift studio. Clearly whoever this Bleach was, he was an artist.

Bleach waved Crow over, patting the dirt next to him as an indicator for him to sit. He pulled one of the boxes towards him, and inside Crow could see a pile of masks, all painted with that strange smile. Looking back at the supplies lying nearby it was easy to make the connection.

“You made all of these?” He asked as he walked over, and Bleach nodded, reaching into the box and pulling out a mask. There was no strap attached to it yet, so Crow had to hold it up to his face when Bleach gestured for him to put it on. A thin, almost mesh-like layer covered the two holes in the mask where the eyes were located, and while he could see out of them well enough, he realized while looking at the man in front of him no one could see in. Bleach tilted his head, staring at Crow for few moments before taking the mask back. Felix spoke up, not seeing that Crow’s question had already been answered.

“Yep, Bleach makes these things for everyone here. Takes it pretty seriously too,” Bleach shrugged at the statement but didn’t disagree. He didn’t say anything, really, which Crow noticed seemed to be a trend with him. Felix almost seemed to read his mind. “Also, don’t ask stuff and expect to get a response. He doesn’t talk, mostly does sign language and all that.” He grinned and pointed to one of his eyes. “Things can get a bit annoying when its just the two of us, there’s a bit of a communication issue, you know? He can hear me fine, but I got no idea what he’s saying back.”

“…must be difficult.” Crow was only half listening to him at this point. It was now that he was sitting still he was suddenly acutely aware of the clammy feeling on his hands that he knew was from the blood splattered on his skin. Looking over at Bleach, who was now using one of the tools to create small holes in the mask, he saw that it was smudged with traces of red on the sides from where he held it.

It was only now that it was fully beginning to dawn on him that he had really, truly killed a man. The adrenaline and that odd sensation that came over him when he raised the crowbar had now since faded away, and all that was left was confusion and regret. Crow knew he planned on injuring that man somehow, but it was self-defense; all he wanted was to negate the threat to his safety and find Felix. He looked down at his weapon still loosely gripped in his hand, the blood now dried on the metal. 

Guess he accomplished that, didn’t he? 

Suddenly he became aware of someone poking his shoulder. Bleach was holding the mask, which now had a brown strap attached to it, out for him to take.

“Thanks.” The mask felt strange on his face, and the mesh covering the eyes made everything seem lighter and his vision a bit more clouded than usual, but he could still see his surroundings well enough.

“You have it on yet?” Felix drummed his hand on his lap impatiently, swaying back and forth from where he sat in the middle of the room. Crow wondered if the boy ever stopped moving.

“Y-”

“Nice!” Crow had only started talking before Felix sprang to his feet and moved to find the wall, tracing his hand along it to find the doorway where he paused for a moment. He seemed more than familiar with this room, however, the speed and confidence at which he moved told Crow that the guidance was just a formality than anything. “Okay, let’s get going! I wanna take you to meet Darius, he’s really cool. You’ll like him a lot. Then maybe we’ll go find Jaxon, he wasn’t in Bleach’s room for some reason but I’m sure we can find him. He’s grumpy but I like him a lot.”

“Uh…alright.” Crow stood as well and followed him, thanking Bleach and giving a small wave in farewell as he left. He wasn’t sure what else to do at that point, and he supposed it would be beneficial for him to get an idea of who exactly he was going to be working with here. Bleach seemed to be something of an enigma, but it was likely that was due to the communication barrier between them. Not the mention the mask, there was only so much Crow could discern from body language alone. And Buzzo, despite being the opposite, face exposed and clearly being a man of many words, somehow was even worse. He just hoped that some of the others were easier to read.

Like Felix.

Crow studied the boy in front of him carefully as they walked down the empty hallway, moving in the direction from where they came. It was clear to him that Felix’s friendliness wasn’t just some ploy to get Crow involved in the gang, there would be no reason for him to keep that up now after the deal was done. He really seemed to be like an excited child introducing a new friend to other children at school, despite this certainly _not_ being a school and instead being an abandoned warehouse which housed an obviously dangerous gang in a postapocalyptic wasteland. Crow couldn’t help but wonder what the boy was doing here in the first place. And why he got Crow involved.

“Felix…”

“Hm?”

“Buzzo said you had told him about me. Why did you do that?” Crow made sure his tone wasn’t accusatory in any way, he didn’t imagine that Felix had meant to put him in any sort of danger. He was now more curious than suspicious, and he tried to show it through his voice since Felix couldn’t see his face or body language.

“I wanted him to let you join the gang!” Felix answered, continuing to walk but now slowing down a little. “You were really lonely even though you said you weren’t and I figured if you joined you’d be able to talk to more people, make some friends, you know? I didn’t want you to go crazy, and you need to go out more.”

Crow just stared at him, bewildered and not quite sure how to respond to that at first. Was _that_ really Felix’s motivations behind all this? Trying to get Crow to make _friends?_ Normally he wouldn’t have exactly minded. Even though Crow knew Felix’s efforts were likely futile the boy had good intentions it seemed, however Crow had dried blood under his nose and a bruise forming on his forehead from when his face was slammed into a metal door as a result of Felix’s attempt to make him “go out more”. 

“I…” Crow frowned, glancing down at the bloodied crowbar in his hand and shifting it to rest on his shoulder. The metal was cool against his skin, he was careful to avoid making contact with any of the gorier parts. “Listen, I don’t know if you realized this, but I was in danger back there. That’s why that man died, I killed him trying to protect myself--“

“Oh, I know.” Felix interrupted, obviously unconcerned. He shrugged, scratching the back of his head and mussing up his rust-colored hair. “I knew you’d be fine, though. The first time we were talking you got mad and broke something-it was a rock, right?-and it was really damn loud, so I knew you were strong. And since you were strong, I knew you’d be ok.”

That was flawed logic to say the least, but Crow didn’t have the energy to push the subject further. It was too late now anyway; the deed was done, and Crow was in it now. He merely grunted in response to Felix’s statement, gave a short nod not to the boy but to himself. It would be fine. The fact that he was walking around and not a beaten mess on the ground showed that he could protect himself, as Felix said. He stayed quiet as the walked the rest of the way, Felix breaking the silence by humming a little tune to himself until they reached the entrance to the warehouse. 

Now that Crow wasn’t focused on a threatening group of men surrounding him he was able to take in more of the room. It was drab to say the least, the grey-blue concrete walls illuminated by yellowish fluorescent light that only made them look even duller, the only splash of color being graffiti scrawled on the walls and darker stains that he didn’t really want to know the origin of. Crates of various sizes were scattered among the outskirts of the large, open room among with empty bottles and cigarette butts that littered the linoleum tiled floor here and there. 

Crow wasn’t sure which smell was stronger: the smell of cigarettes or the smell of blood. The former he was much more used to, but the latter…it made him feel strange, like he wasn’t quite there. It fogged up his head, even made him feel a bit nauseous. He tried to ignore it as he looked around. 

There now were a few people hanging about the room, sitting on the crates or on the floor, though Buzzo and the man with the striped shirt Crow met earlier were nowhere to be seen. He could make out quiet conversations being had and watched as Felix began to move towards the sounds, the boy’s boot bumping up against a beer bottle on the ground that he sent rolling across the floor. Felix stopped in his tracks, shuffling around until his foot found the bottle again then giving it a sharp, surprisingly strong kick sending the bottle flying into the wall where it smashed to pieces. Crow could see some of the other men jolt and turn to look source of the sudden sound.

“Kid? The hell you doin’?” One of the men stood and began to approach the two of them, taking another glance at the broken bottle by the wall before he pulled his mask up off his face to reveal a puzzled expression. “Trying out for the soccer team or something?” Felix just grinned, looking very pleased with himself. 

“Hey Darius! I gotta talk to you,” Felix suddenly extended his arm back and started waving it around behind him, lowering his voice to a mutter. “Crow, make some noise when you move or some shit ‘cause I can’t find you—okay there you are.” His hand found the top of Crow’s head and gripped down, all but pulling the man forward to stand in front of him. Crow wasn’t expecting this and stumbled a little, instinctively backing up slightly but Felix took no note of it. “Anyway! This is Crow! I know you already saw him earlier but I wanted him to talk to you, too.”

Crow straightened as Darius’s gaze was turned towards him and he carefully studied the other man. He was stocky but obviously muscular in build, dark brown skin marked by tattoos on his arm and two dashes of warpaint on either side his handsome face. Numerous scars dotted and cut across the skin of his bare torso and forearms, marks left by bullets and blades that Crow was almost impressed by. Darius clearly took note of the blood on Crow’s body, dark eyes flickering with uneasiness as his gaze darted down to the other man’s hands that were still splattered with the red substance. However a smile soon grew on Darius’s face, maybe a little bit forced however a smile nonetheless as he extended his hand.

“Hey man, nice to meet you.” Crow quietly returned the greeting and shook his hand, keeping his grip loose. Darius’s expression tightened slightly, the man obviously now feeling the stickiness of the dried blood on Crow’s palm so the contact only lasted a brief moment before he all but yanked his hand away. Crow had to give him some credit though, Darius still managed to keep that smile up and maintained his relaxed tone. “Well, you heard the kid, the name’s Darius. Darius Griffin. Welcome to the party, Felix’s told us a lot about you.”

“So I’ve heard.” Crow couldn’t help the dryness that crept into his tone, to which Darius responded with a quiet chuckle.

“Only good stuff, don’t worry. But I gotta say, you still weren’t what I was expecting…guess that’s what happens when you get the description from the blind kid.”

“Hey! I said he was short, didn’t I?”

Crow had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes. He’d told Felix details of his appearance before, but his height was the only thing the boy seemed to have retained. Darius only grinned wider, expression relaxing slightly, however when he opened his mouth to say something else his gaze landed on something further back past Crow. Immediately that smile vanished, and the man’s brow furrowed in concern.

First Crow heard new, louder voices break the ambience of the warehouse from somewhere behind him, an argument from the sounds of it. When he turned to see what was going on he spotted two men across the room; one with unnaturally bright orange hair, body almost emaciated looking while the other man appeared more normal-or at least, that was what Crow thought at first. Then he noticed that this one was missing an arm.

“N-no. Please, j-j-just drop it, alright?!” The orange-haired man backed away towards where Crow and the others were standing, keeping one bony arm outstretched in front of him and the other held back behind him as if hiding it. Crow however could see what the man was trying to conceal as he grew closer, it was an injury. A nasty looking one too, swollen, reddened tissue surrounding what looked to be a large tear in the pale skin of the forearm that was yellow with pus. “I’m f-fine, I p-promise, please-“

“Twitch, that’s a lie and you know it.” The other man strode forward after him, Crow recognizing him to be the man in pink armor who was standing next to Felix earlier. He still wore his mask, but his frustration was clear in his voice. “That thing is literally _killing you_ and I’m not gonna have you turn because you refuse to let me do anything about it.”

“N-n-no, I c-can’t let him do _th-that_. A-a-anything but that, Antonio you--you d-don’t understand-“ 

“Oh come on, you’re still bitching about that whole thing?” One of the men still standing off to the side scoffed, nonchalantly leaning against the wall with his unmoving mask grinning widely at the scene before him. “You’ll live. Probably, I mean, _most_ of us have.” He gave a dark chuckle at that, voice rough and almost grating on the ears, and the man in pink armor-what did the other man say he was, Antonio?- whirled around to face him and brought his mask up to reveal an thin, unshaven face now twisted into a scowl.

“Flint, shut your goddamned mouth before I shoot you in the foot.” He snapped, and there was tense pause in which he and the other man stared each other down before he turned back to the man named Twitch, tone and expression immediately softening. However, there still was a tremor of agitation in his voice. “Thing is, Twitch, I do understand. But you know what has to happen, at this point it’s too late for anything else. I’m sorry, I really am.”

Twitch didn’t respond, simply taking a few steps back and shaking his head adamantly, his shaking and trembling breaths clearly audible in the tense silence of the room. Antonio’s frown deepened and suddenly his gaze turned to where Crow was standing however he wasn’t looking at him, he was looking at Darius who straightened with a troubled look on his face. 

“Be right back.” Darius muttered under his breath as he walked past Crow and Felix, slowly approaching Twitch with his hands held out slightly in front of him, almost as if attempting to calm a skittish animal. “Hey man, just breathe…try and calm down. You’re gonna be fine.” He placed a hand on Twitch’s shoulder, a clear gesture of comfort while he kept his voice low. The other man tensed only momentarily at the contact before his posture sagged, not quite relaxing however he no longer looked like he was about to bolt out of the room anymore. 

“I c-c-can’t let him d-do that.” Twitch repeated quietly, voice as fragile as his thin, scarred, body as his spidery hand fidgeted with his pant leg, ghosting over the handle of a worn, blood-stained axe that hung at the man’s side from his belt.

“Yeah, I know Twitch, it’s- it’s ok. I’m sure we can figure something else out-” As Darius attempted to placate him, Crow suddenly noticed Antonio reach into the pocket of his jeans, slowly moving forward up behind Twitch with a clear tension in his movements.

He struck with almost surprising speed, darting forward and stabbing whatever was in his hand into Twitch’s neck decisively with no hesitation to be seen on his grim expression. Crow looked on with a sort of alarmed curiosity, obviously _something_ was happening but he didn’t have the slightest clue what. 

There was a dead silence following that action however there wasn’t complete stillness: a slight motion of Antonio’s hand as he pushed the plunger of what Crow now realized to be a syringe, the violent jerk of Twitch’s body as he all but threw himself away from the other men and stumbled off to the side. In seconds Twitch’s wild eyes began to close and with a quiet groan his legs gave out underneath him, Darius swiftly moving to catch him and gently guiding him down to the ground.

Antonio breathed a heavy sigh, pocketing the syringe and casting a quick glance down at Twitch’s limp form before he turned back to face the other men who were silently watching the scene unfold.

“Scratch. Go get Buzzo.” A pale skinned man with a wiry frame, presumably Scratch, gave a short nod before standing and briskly jogging across the room. He disappeared through another doorway that Crow figured led to another hallway like the one he had gone through earlier. His attention was turned back to the group towards the center of the room, where Antonio was now crouched by the other two and had Twitch’s arm in his hand.

“Hey…you sure there’s nothing else you can do for him, Doc?” Darius’s voice was soft, brow furrowed in a look of worry that was now fixed upon his face and showed no signs of fading. “Not even Joy?”

“Infection’s already in his system. If we caught it beforehand Joy might’ve done something, but now…” Antonio shook his head, taking one more look at the injury before dropping the arm and standing once more. “I don’t know why he didn’t tell me about this earlier-or at least, why he didn’t just take Joy at the time-”

“Pretty sure you and I both know why he didn’t do that, Doc.” Darius muttered, hooking his hands under Twitch’s arms and moving to prop the man up against a crate. It didn’t seem to take any effort, it was more like he was carrying a doll.

Crow listened to the whispered conversation between these two men but couldn’t make sense of much of it. He turned his attention to back Felix who seemed unfazed by this whole thing, however before he could ask what was going on he realized someone else was approaching. It was the man that Antonio briefly argued with earlier, black hair stuck up in some style akin to a mohawk that Crow had only ever seen on rebellious teenagers who listened to the type music that always gave Crow a headache. It was then that he realized this man was missing an arm as well, this time the stump being covered by a faded and dirty red poncho that was torn up and fringed towards the bottom. 

“So. You’re the fresh meat, huh? Thought you’d be taller.” He sniffed, pulling up his mask to reveal a weathered, scruffy face with dark, beady eyes that appeared almost sunken into their sockets, eyes that coldly regarded Crow with obvious distaste. Was-was he wearing _eyeshadow?_ “Well, you got here just in time for the show. Lucky you.”

The show? 

“Hey, Flint.” Felix gave a little wave as he shifted back and forth on his feet absentmindedly, apparently oblivious to the tense atmosphere by the sound of his light tone. “I told you he was gonna be short, remember? Weren’t you listening?” 

Flint ignored him, chapped lips twisting into a scowl as he turned to look at Twitch’s slumped over form against the crate. “Pathetic way for that to happen, though. He’s lucky, he’s not even awake for it either.” Crow followed his gaze with a frown.

“For…for what to happen?” 

“Well, Buzzo’s gonna-“ Felix spoke up however suddenly Flint’s hand darted up and clamped over the boy’s mouth, muffling the last part of his sentence so Crow couldn’t hear. 

“Kid, shut up.” Flint snapped, eyeing Crow with a slow smirk forming on his face that gave Crow nothing but unease. “If he can’t piece it together, let’s have it be a little surprise for him, yeah?” Crow had to fight the urge to swat the man’s hand away. He didn’t want to be rude however he didn’t appreciate anyone talking to Felix like that, and while Crow was never the best at reading people he could easily tell this Flint was a particularly unpleasant sort. 

It was then that the room went quiet, the other hushed conversations by the others around the room immediately coming to a halt. The sound of footsteps, boots against concrete, was the only sound as Buzzo entered the room. Crow turned his gaze away from Flint and Felix to watch him, compelled to keep an eye on the man. Something about him drew the eye, perhaps it was the sword that he held loosely in his hand that glinted dully under the fluorescent lights as he moved underneath them, approaching the fallen figure of Twitch on the ground. Darius sharply looked up and immediately stood at the sight of Buzzo, quickly, fearfully backing away from Twitch’s side with his eyes cast to the ground.

Antonio remained where he was, mouth set in a thin, tense line as he watched Buzzo bend down to take hold of Twitch’s wrist, looking over the cut on the unconscious man’s fragile-looking arm. Buzzo gave a thoughtful hum, glancing up at Antonio with a raised brow.

“Did you really have to waste sedatives on him? That really just takes all the fun out of it, you know.” Antonio stiffened, face paling as his hand clenched into a white knuckled fist at his side. There wasn’t fear on his face like there was with Darius, however, just barely restrained anger.

“Of course I did.” He spat, turning away from Buzzo and now staring an indistinguishable point on the wall, almost like he couldn’t even stand looking at him. “Just-just get it over with. He’s been suffering enough without you having your _fun_.” 

“Don’t take that tone with me, Tonio.” Buzzo said softly, briefly glancing at him with a warning look before he straightened upright, pulling Twitch’s arm up with him so the thin man’s torso was partially up off the ground “I don’t recall you being the one giving orders here.” 

Antonio remained silent, still refusing to look, and Crow noticed Darius and some of the other men along the sides of the room averting their gazes as well. The entire room was holding its breath, it seemed.

It was then that Buzzo raised his sword with one hand, Twitch’s arm held taut and angled to the side in the other, and Crow finally realized what was about to happen. The possibility of it Crow was already aware of, a nagging concept scratching in the back of his mind at hearing Twitch’s fear of what was to come, at seeing the damaged arm that couldn’t be saved. He had hoped that there was some sort of alternative to the outcome, but as the blade came down and a sharp crack rang out into the silence, Crow knew that was clearly not the case.

He couldn’t look away, even though he wanted to. He just felt frozen. Gaze transfixed on the gory scene before him, the splashes of color that appeared on the dull concrete floor as blood streamed from the deep, deep wound that now cut through Twitch’s arm. It was only dangling from the shoulder by a thin connection of tissue that Buzzo quickly severed that another quick chop from his sword, and Twitch’s body flopped back down and hit the ground with a dull thud. 

“Jesus, that was almost _too_ easy.” Buzzo clicked his tongue and shook his head, glancing down at the man in front of him with something that wasn’t quite pity before he held up the severed arm in his hand to look it over. There was blood still spilling from the limb that pooled on the ground, and more of it was now coating Buzzo’s hands yet the man didn’t seem to care. “Like cutting a damn stick.”

Antonio had already moved into action, crouching down by Twitch and reaching back into the pocket of his jeans. After a brief moment of searching he withdrew his hand that came back holding a small blue pill. Joy.

“Darius, get me water-or, beer, or something-“ 

“Got it, got it.” Darius pried open one of the crates that were sitting nearby and frantically searched through it, the quiet clink of empty glass shifting against each other sounding out before he pulled out a beer bottle. “Here.”

Darius helped bring Twitch upright again and tilted the man’s pale face upward for Antonio to administer the pill and pour some of the liquid, likely water, into his mouth. After that Antonio set to work wrapping up the torn up flesh with a small roll of bandages, shooing away Darius’s attempts of aid with a shake of his head. Despite his own loss of limb the man was surprisingly adept at the task, using quick, sharp motions to ensure the bandage was wrapped tightly around. He paused only briefly to glance up and watch as Buzzo flicked some of the blood off his sword then slid the weapon back into its sheath.

“Hey. Get rid of this for me.” Buzzo turned to hold out the severed limb and at first Crow thought he might’ve been talking to Flint or maybe even Felix, however with a chill he realized the man’s eyes were on him. Crow was paralyzed, he didn’t think he had moved a muscle ever since the arm had been cut off. The scent of blood was now fresh and thick in the air and it gave him an overwhelming feeling that he himself was in danger, that if he moved or spoke or even _breathed_ he would suffer the same fate. 

“Snap out of it.” Flint whispered sharply, giving Crow a not-so-gentle nudge forward. “Go on.” Crow almost tripped over his own feet however soon steadied himself, fear breaking only slightly as a flicker of irritation sparked in him from Flint’s coarseness. Taking a shallow and shaky breath Crow began to approach Buzzo while keeping his steps light and careful, spurred on by his anxiety that quickened his pace until he came to a sudden stop in front of the taller man. 

“Just leave it outside somewhere, I don’t care.” Buzzo shrugged nonchalantly, dropping the arm into Crow’s free hand as if he was giving him a simple package or other mundane item to deliver somewhere on an errand. At feeling the soft flesh in his hand Crow felt his stomach lurch as nausea flooded through him. God, it was still warm. He had to get out of here.

Crow couldn’t bring himself to say anything in response, just giving a short nod before he turned and walked stiffly towards the exit of the warehouse. He was glad to have kept his mask on, he had no idea what sort of expression his face was making in response to what he had just seen. He held his crowbar in one hand and the arm in the other, keeping the limb at his side and out of his frame of vision as he stared straight ahead. 

Once he was outside Crow let his crowbar drop to the ground and used his now free hand to pull his mask up off his face, skin covered in a slight sheen of sweat that plastered his dark bangs to his forehead. Finally he felt like he could breathe. A warm, dry wind blew past him as he briskly moved along, unsure of what sort of place was best to leave a severed arm to rot away but more than eager to get rid of it. Eventually he stopped a short distance from the warehouse, seeing a shallow ditch that he all but threw the arm into when he decided it was good enough. 

A distant noise brought his attention back to the building, and when he turned he spotted Flint emerging from the entrance and moving to lean against the façade of the warehouse. The man now eyed him thoughtfully as Crow approached to pick up his crowbar, speaking up only when Crow started to reach for the door handle to go back inside. 

“Hey. You want a cig?” Crow only then noticed the pack of cigarettes in Flint’s hand that he then offered to him, and after a brief pause Crow nodded and took it. This day had been so chaotic he’d almost forgotten about that sort of thing, but the craving soon returned now that his head was a little clearer.

“Thanks…” He took a cigarette and handed the pack back to Flint, reaching back to his pocket to grab his lighter-

But it wasn’t there. Crow then remembered how he’d dropped it right as the fight started and looked back at door with a frown. It would still be there, wouldn’t it? Unless someone took it, maybe he should go look- 

“Lemme guess…you need a light?” Flint caught on quickly and rolled his eyes, taking out a cigarette of his own before putting it away and pulling out a dingy looking orange lighter from his pocket. “Here.”

Crow mumbled another thank you, having to roll the spark wheel a couple times before hastily lighting his cig. Afterwards Flint all but snatched the lighter away from him, bringing the flame to the tip of his own. Crow honestly couldn’t tell if this guy was trying to be friendly with him or not, the offer was fairly generous and he certainly appreciated it, but…Flint’s manner wasn’t the most hospitable, for sure. 

Crow moved to stand on the other side of the door, letting his crowbar rest against the wall as he smoked and occasionally sneaked a glance or two at Flint. The man seemed to ignore him for the most part, only looking at Crow with a glare when he caught him staring for too long. He flicked the ashes off the tip of his cigarette

“It fucking reeks back in there. Only thing we got is smoke to cover it up.” Flint finally broke the silence, studying his cigarette with a slight frown. Crow’s mind immediately went back to what he saw in that warehouse and the images of blood finally prompted Crow to speak as well.

“What…was all that?”

“Wasn’t it obvious?” Flint glanced at him sharply, eyebrow raised. “Wound got infected, arm had to be amputated-“

“No, that’s-not what I meant.” Flint looked displeased at getting cut off but Crow quickly pushed forward, wanting his answers. “The way it happened, it wasn’t…normal. What Buzzo was saying, it didn’t make sense.”

“Felix hadn’t told you?” The other man gave a thoughtful hum, taking another puff on his cigarette. A grim smile formed on his face. “Well shit, the kid really threw you to the wolves with this one. Buzzo practically reeks crazy, have you really not noticed what’s going on?” At that he stuck his cigarette in his mouth, freeing his hand so he could lift part of his poncho to reveal the stump of his arm in more detail. 

“You’ve seen some of the others, right? We’re not all as stupid as Twitch, let ourselves get hurt and then just do nothing about it till your arm starts to rot.” His eyes glittered almost mischievously, a smirk forming on his face. “Come on, you aren’t _that_ dense are you?”

Crow was too preoccupied with his racing thoughts to even full process the snarky comment, still staring at the section of Flint’s poncho that covered the heavy scarring that ended his arm just above the elbow. The image of it still lingered. There was six. Just from the men he saw six who were missing limbs. All severed from the same spot, if Crow remembered correctly. Six, far too many to be any kind of coincidence or accident.

He could practically hear Felix’s voice in his head. Could see the bloodstained bandages wrapped around his arm, the droplets of red that soaked into the dirt of the cavern floor.

_It got cut off._

_I’m not going to let him hurt me like that ever again._

“He…” Crow swallowed, feeling that same uneasiness settle back in his stomach. His next few words felt heavy on his tongue. “Buzzo cuts off people’s arms, is that it? And…not just out of necessity?”

“Ding ding ding, give the man a prize.” Flint drawled. “I’d clap if I had two arms.” 

“…why?” Stunned, that was all Crow could think to ask. Flint gave a dry chuckle and shrugged. 

“The guy’s a fucking sadist.” He didn’t seem to be concerned with anyone else overhearing their conversation through the door, now getting more animated than he was before, even. Voice louder, he gestured more frequently with his cigarette. “Maybe he gets off to it, maybe he wasn’t loved enough as a kid, who the hell knows. If you ask me I don’t think it matters. Result’s all the same.”

Crow just stared at him for a moment, mouth slightly agape. This was serious. While Flint seemed the type to try and scare a newcomer to a gang like this, stretch the truth or make up something entirely, this…this was different. The reactions of the others to Twitch losing an arm, the fear they had of their leader…it all made sense. But still, the fact that Buzzo would put people through that on purpose, take away something so important, a part of a person…he almost didn’t want to believe it.

Despite the heat of the outside Crow felt cold. He took another puff of the cigarette, but even the smoke filling up his lungs did little to soothe his anxiety. It was just his luck. Of all the gangs in Olathe, he had to end up getting involved with the one led by a man who cuts off arms for fun.

What the hell was he getting himself into?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been a while. Lots of stuff happened, did a lot more developing of these characters behind the scenes and now i have a better idea of what I'm doing with the story. Hopefully the updates will be more regular from here on out!  
> Thanks for reading!


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